Want a raise? Then find some way to please the boss]
You heartless old bastard... this time, I'm going to make the top thirty-five just to show you!
Watching Lu Tian's retreating back, Lu Yuanqiu silently swore to himself.
Even without Bai Qingxia as a reason, Lu Yuanqiu knew he had to start putting in the work now for the college entrance exam.
He had only one year to fill two years' worth of gaps in his knowledge with a brain that had rusted away for fifteen years.
Time was short, and the task was daunting.
But unlike in his previous life, Lu Yuanqiu felt neither aversion nor resistance toward studying hard this time. He knew exactly what he wanted out of this life.
Lu Yuanqiu looked ahead and walked toward the girl kneeling on the floor, wiping it clean.
"Hey!"
Hearing the voice behind her, Bai Qingxia turned around. She slowly stood up, holding the filthy rag, and looked at Lu Yuanqiu in confusion.
Her calm expression made it clear that she thought nothing of kneeling on the floor to clean up urine.
Lu Yuanqiu walked up to her and couldn't help poking her smooth, fair forehead. "Are you stupid? There's a mop, and you're kneeling on the floor wiping it with a rag?"
Bai Qingxia closed her eyes and drew her head back.
She looked up at him with a slightly aggrieved gaze, then said quietly, "I only found a rag."
Lu Yuanqiu bent down and helped dust off her knees while arguing, "Even so, you didn't have to deal with it yourself. There are other people working here."
Bai Qingxia shyly stepped back and lowered her head. "Your dad said I could do some cleaning when there weren't many customers at night..."
"You... you've got the damn nerve to talk back to me?"
Lu Yuanqiu pointed at her with a stern expression. Bai Qingxia timidly glanced up at him. Thinking he was about to poke her forehead again, she instinctively shrank back and squeezed her eyes shut in fear, her long lashes trembling.
But Lu Yuanqiu didn't do that. Bai Qingxia cautiously opened her eyes and heard him say in disgust:
"Throw away that rag. It's filthy."
"Where?"
"...At my face."
Lu Yuanqiu stared at her expressionlessly.
Bai Qingxia lowered her head, her cheeks flushing bright red at his retort. She looked around, then finally dropped the rag gently onto the floor.
Only then did Lu Yuanqiu turn around. "Come with me."
Passing a small door, he pointed at it. "That's the broom closet. Go wash your hands in there, then meet me at the checkout."
"Okay."
After washing her hands, Bai Qingxia came to the checkout and saw Lu Yuanqiu taking money out of a drawer.
They were red banknotes, five in total. He looked at her. "Hold out your hand."
Bai Qingxia stared blankly without extending her hand.
Lu Yuanqiu explained, "It's a tradition here. We pay wages in advance at the beginning of every month. It's the same for all the employees."
Just as he finished speaking, the guy who weighed the meat came toward the entrance, untying his apron. "I'm heading home, young boss Lu," he said with a smile.
Lu Yuanqiu hurriedly hid the five hundred yuan beneath the counter and nodded at the employee. "Sure. Take care on your way home."
"Will do!"
After the man left, Bai Qingxia gazed steadily at Lu Yuanqiu with her beautiful eyes, as though she had seen right through him.
Lu Yuanqiu tapped the counter and snapped at her, "What's that look supposed to mean? Not enough for you?"
Bai Qingxia lowered her head and said softly, "I don't want to get paid in advance. I want to be paid at the same time as everyone else."
Lu Yuanqiu slapped the counter and pointed at her stubborn, downturned face. "Defying your boss, are you? Do you believe I'll fire you?!"
Bai Qingxia looked up, her beautiful, unruffled eyes quietly meeting his.
Her expression seemed to say: Is that all?
Not threatening enough?
Lu Yuanqiu said unhurriedly, "Looks like you want my dad to hear about what you did on the thirtieth, too."
At that, panic flashed across Bai Qingxia's face. She immediately took the five hundred yuan and held it tightly against her chest, her pink lips pressed together in apprehension.
Lu Yuanqiu smiled.
Then he continued, "You work fewer hours, so you get the lowest pay, too. Just five hundred a month. If you do well, though, you might get a raise."
"Of course..." Lu Yuanqiu leaned forward, lacing his fingers together as he looked at the innocent girl before him.
"If you could find some way to please the boss, that raise could be arranged~"
Lu Yuanqiu let out a villainous cackle.
At those words, both of Bai Qingxia's earlobes instantly turned bright red.
She raised her other hand to clutch the five hundred yuan against her chest as well, looking nervous and a little embarrassed and annoyed.
She knew Lu Yuanqiu was teasing her, but she was also afraid he might actually be hinting at something.
"What are you thinking?" Lu Yuanqiu got up and sat on the checkout counter, unable to resist reaching out to ruffle her hair. "I meant you should smile more. That's one way to please the boss, too. Understand?"
"And help tutor me."
Bai Qingxia immediately looked up at him and said earnestly, "I'll definitely tutor you!"
"Obviously. That's your job in the first place. Remember to come to my house this Saturday. If you don't show up, heh heh..."
Lu Yuanqiu childishly held out both hands like claws in front of her, deliberately trying to scare her.
Her earlobes red, Bai Qingxia pressed her lips together and said nothing.
"Oh, right. What are you planning to do with your first earnings?"
Sitting on the checkout counter, Lu Yuanqiu pointed at the five hundred yuan she held against her chest.
Bai Qingxia came to her senses and hurriedly held out a hundred yuan to him with both hands. "Pay you back!"
That wasn't what Lu Yuanqiu had meant... but he reached out and took it anyway. "Okay."
After putting it away, he noticed her flushed cheeks and conflicted expression, as though she wanted to say something but couldn't bring herself to.
"What is it?"
"...My thirteen yuan fifty in change," Bai Qingxia said in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
Lu Yuanqiu froze, then burst into hearty laughter. "Right, I almost forgot. Your change-thirteen yuan fifty!"
Bai Qingxia lowered her head and bit her lip in embarrassment.
When he took out the change, Bai Qingxia accepted it with both hands again.
Lu Yuanqiu teased her. "Aren't you going to count it?"
Bai Qingxia immediately shook her head, her fair cheeks as red as tomatoes.
Lu Yuanqiu continued, "What about the rest? What are you going to use it for?"
In 2010, having four hundred yuan in hand was already a huge
sum for a high school student.
Bai Qingxia said earnestly, "A hundred to top up my meal card, and a hundred to buy past exam papers..."
She stopped there. It seemed she wasn't planning to touch the rest, or perhaps she simply hadn't decided yet.
Lu Yuanqiu reminded her, "Fifty yuan for the class outfit."
Bai Qingxia looked up at him, paused, then shook her head. "I'm not buying the class outfit."
Bracing both hands on the checkout counter, Lu Yuanqiu tilted his head back to gaze at the ceiling and said casually, "True. It's just marching in formation at the sports meet. Why buy some stupid outfit?"
"But Bai Qingxia, we only get to be young once."
"Ten or fifteen years from now, maybe I'll regret not studying hard back then. And you'll regret not wearing a pretty skirt to the last sports meet of high school."